Seventh Ryugaku Awards held in Japan

Ashikaga University and Fukui University of Technology were among the big winners of the Ryugaku Awards, entering its hall of fame at the seventh annual event organised by the Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education.

The awards recognise the work of tertiary providers as voted by language schools. Photo: Ryugaku Awards

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About Anton CraceAnton is an award-winning international education journalist and author from Australia. He has worked within the industry since 2011 and writes extensively on events throughout the Asia Pacific. In his spare time, he’s watching rugby, cricket or basketball.

The 2018 awards garnered more than 450 votes from 181 schools

“The decrease of the foreign students at Japanese language schools due to the great earthquake in 2011 opened up this idea”

The awards, which recognise the work of tertiary institutions in promoting study in Japan, saw nine universities and vocational providers win across schools and school department categories.

“The decrease of the foreign students at Japanese language schools due to the great earthquake in 2011 opened up this idea,” said Hiroko Yamamoto, director of Kai Japanese Language School and awards organiser.

“Many of them are from Asian countries and most wish to enrol in higher education institutions, however, Japanese universities and vocational schools don’t put much emphasis on marketing and PR activities for foreign students.”

Nominated and voted on by Japanese language schools, the 2018 Ryugaku Awards garnered more than 450 votes from 181 schools across the categories, which are split into east and west Japan.

Taking into consideration work in areas including academic excellence, employability, and student support, Yamamoto said the awards were also an opportunity for the Japanese language and tertiary education sectors to better engage with each other.

“More and more universities and vocational schools visit Japanese language schools,” she told The PIE News.

“And by knowing the cases that some universities changed for improvement from the requests of Japanese language schools, the number of Japanese language schools which realise the meaning of the awards has been increasing.”

Expanding from three categories in 2012, the Ryugaku Awards also acknowledge the ongoing success of providers, with those that win five years in a row entering its hall of fame.

AU and FTU became the third and fourth hall of fame inductees, joining the Japan Electronics College and Waseda University.

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